Truth or dare
The other day, a friend of mine asked me to help him fall a couple of trees.
The trees were giant Elms, about 50 foot tall and overgrown for their location. The base of each tree was 3 foot in diameter, that extended up about 7 feet to where an ancient pruning had caused both, to branch out, but mainly up. They resembled giant octopuses swimming down from the sky.
Located between 2 houses, straddled on the third side by power lines, the trees had only one direction they could be fallen and they had to be taken down in order, one at a time.
Being a little concerned about some of the branches overhanging one of the houses, we got some scaffolding, enough to get us up 20 foot, to trim the arrant tentacles. I would tie a rope as high up on the branch as possible and pull from the ground as my friend, atop of the aluminum scaffolding, cut through. I noticed that all the pulling in the world didn't make much difference in the direction that a leaning branch would fall. It was the early spring and there were no leaves on the Elms but the wood was very heavy, being green and all, and these branches were 1 foot in diameter.
The first tree came down, more or less, without a hitch (even though I had a rope tied to it.)
The second tree, was leaning toward the power wires. Nothing was going right. One branch even glanced off the roof of the house, luckily, it wasn't damaged.
We had one branch to go, it was overhanging the power lines and we needed it to fall in the exact opposite direction. My friend tied on the rope high up in the doomed branch and I pulled on the rope while he cut through. Well, that was the plan.
My friend was about half way through the branch when I signaled him to stop, he did, and came down from the scaffolding. I had nothing to brace my self against and I was a little concerned about the half tone of Elm at the other end of the rope. So we got the truck.
The truck was big. The truck was heavy. I tied the rope to the back of the truck and at a low idle in first geer, started pulling the branch. This time my friend stopped me. I stopped the truck and put on the brake.
The rope was under a great deal of tension, yet the branch, although partially cut through, had not moved. My friend thought that the rope might break causing the half cut branch to fall in the other direction, on the power wires. I looked at the rope and the tension it was under and thought to myself, that, for sure, the rope would break.
If I told my friend the truth about what I thought, that the rope would break, he would climb back up the scaffolding and finish cutting the branch which would probably fall, regardless of the rope on to the power wires connecting with him and the scaffold.
If I lied, and said that the rope wouldn't break we would both be safe on the ground no matter what happened.
The wind was starting to pick up I had to decide quick.
What would you do?
The trees were giant Elms, about 50 foot tall and overgrown for their location. The base of each tree was 3 foot in diameter, that extended up about 7 feet to where an ancient pruning had caused both, to branch out, but mainly up. They resembled giant octopuses swimming down from the sky.
Located between 2 houses, straddled on the third side by power lines, the trees had only one direction they could be fallen and they had to be taken down in order, one at a time.
Being a little concerned about some of the branches overhanging one of the houses, we got some scaffolding, enough to get us up 20 foot, to trim the arrant tentacles. I would tie a rope as high up on the branch as possible and pull from the ground as my friend, atop of the aluminum scaffolding, cut through. I noticed that all the pulling in the world didn't make much difference in the direction that a leaning branch would fall. It was the early spring and there were no leaves on the Elms but the wood was very heavy, being green and all, and these branches were 1 foot in diameter.
The first tree came down, more or less, without a hitch (even though I had a rope tied to it.)
The second tree, was leaning toward the power wires. Nothing was going right. One branch even glanced off the roof of the house, luckily, it wasn't damaged.
We had one branch to go, it was overhanging the power lines and we needed it to fall in the exact opposite direction. My friend tied on the rope high up in the doomed branch and I pulled on the rope while he cut through. Well, that was the plan.
My friend was about half way through the branch when I signaled him to stop, he did, and came down from the scaffolding. I had nothing to brace my self against and I was a little concerned about the half tone of Elm at the other end of the rope. So we got the truck.
The truck was big. The truck was heavy. I tied the rope to the back of the truck and at a low idle in first geer, started pulling the branch. This time my friend stopped me. I stopped the truck and put on the brake.
The rope was under a great deal of tension, yet the branch, although partially cut through, had not moved. My friend thought that the rope might break causing the half cut branch to fall in the other direction, on the power wires. I looked at the rope and the tension it was under and thought to myself, that, for sure, the rope would break.
If I told my friend the truth about what I thought, that the rope would break, he would climb back up the scaffolding and finish cutting the branch which would probably fall, regardless of the rope on to the power wires connecting with him and the scaffold.
If I lied, and said that the rope wouldn't break we would both be safe on the ground no matter what happened.
The wind was starting to pick up I had to decide quick.
What would you do?
posted by youknow at 8:15 AM
